Stingy Wolf Pack Score A 5-2 Win In Weekend Road Sweep

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The Hartford Wolf Pack tied a franchise record Sunday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, allowing the Penguins only 13 shots on goal in a 5-2 Wolf Pack win.

The victory gave the Wolf Pack a perfect weekend, as the Pack also won road games Friday night 2-1 in overtime at Springfield and Saturday night 4-3 in Binghamton.

The Wolf Pack, who got two goals from Chris Bourque and the winning goal and an assist from Conor Allen, outshot Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 40-13. The victory improved Hartford's record on the year to 33-21-5-3 for 74 points, and moved the Wolf Pack into a tie with the Portland Pirates for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

"Overall game effort, structure, everything, it was one of our best games of the year," Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander said. "It was a huge six points, a huge weekend for us, and I'm real pleased with our team this weekend."

The Wolf Pack controlled the first period with a 13-3 shots advantage, and came out of the first with a 2-0 lead.

Oscar Lindberg opened the scoring on a Wolf Pack power play at 11:57, just five seconds after Barry Goers was sent off for cross-checking. Bourque passed from the right point across to Chris Mueller in the left circle, and he sent the puck to the front of the net. Both Carl Klingberg and Lindberg got whacks at it, and Lindberg was able to poke it past Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltender Jeff Zatkoff (35 saves).

Michael Kostka scored his fifth of the season to make it 2-0 with 1:06 left in the period. Allen sent the puck from the left point to his defense partner, Kostka, on the other side, and Kostka's quick shot went through a Marek Hrivik screen and eluded Zatkoff.

The Wolf Pack scored two more goals, in the second period, before the Penguins got on the board. Allen scored on a power-play at 9:10. Hrivik again helped with a screen, preventing Zatkoff from seeing Allen's long, hard shot from the middle of the blue line.

Bourque then connected for his 23rd goal of the season at 17:03. His brother Ryan Bourque stole the puck from the Penguin defense down low in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton zone, and Chris Bourque backhanded it in behind a sprawling Zatkoff.

Just 17 seconds after that, though, at 17:20, Josh Archibald made it 4-1, lifting the puck high into the net past Wolf Pack goaltender Jeff Malcolm (11 saves), off a pass from Pierre-Luc Leblond.

The Wolf Pack again had a big shots advantage in the second period, 18-7, making the total edge 31-10 through 40 minutes.

Shot totals were 9-3 in favor of the Wolf Pack in the third, but the Penguins scored on a power play at 5:20 on Jayson Megna's 19th goal of the season. Conor Sheary played the puck out of the right-wing corner to Megna in the slot, and his quick shot beat Malcolm to the stick side.

That made it a 4-2 game but Chris Bourque scored an empty-netter, his 24th goal of the season, at 18:44.